Patient's question:
A child has been born for two months. When sleeping, there are twitching phenomena in the legs and feet, and sometimes bubbles are also spit from the mouth. Please ask if it could be epilepsy?Doctor's answer:
Children in this condition may have epilepsy. It is recommended to go to the hospital for a detailed brain examination, such as an electroencephalogram (EEG) check, which shows epileptic waves (also known as paroxysmal discharges) and is an important basis for diagnosing epilepsy. The diagnostic criteria for epilepsy include: 1) recurrent epilepsy symptoms; 2) the presence of epileptic waves on an EEG; and 3) effective antiepileptic drug treatment. However, an EEG is not the sole basis for diagnosis, as the EEG of some epilepsy patients may be normal. Even with a 24-hour long-term EEG, the positive detection rate is only 80%.